Initially, the different brands separated our national and international, California and local San Francisco Bay Area reporting. Over the past year, we have found that more of our stories transcend geography.

The change does not come without warning, as CIR aims to narrow the focus of the San Francisco nonprofit news site after the two agreed last month to merge. The California attorney general approved the merger this week, Rosenthal said, but this decision was made by The Bay Citizen and the Times. The final decision came over the weekend after discussions over the past several weeks.

“We want the opportunity to have multiple media partners in the Bay Area and not be in an exclusive relationship with, really, anyone,” Rosenthal said. Read more

The Bay Citizen
Chief Technology Officer Brian C. Kelley takes over as CEO of the San Francisco-based nonprofit news site after the former CEO, interim editor-in-chief and founding editor-in-chief all resigned in the last five months. Kelley’s temporary appointment comes at the beginning of a week when the news organization expects to learn its fate.

Directors of The Bay Citizen met Monday to continue discussions about a new CEO and a possible merger that, if consummated, would put the organization under the control of the Berkeley-based Center for Investigative Reporting. A decision whether to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the board of CIR is expected by the end of this week.

Sources on both sides of the discussions said Monday that no agreements had been reached Monday, and cautioned that talks over the new leadership and possible merger could fall apart.

NetNewsCheck
Michael Depp examines the close, complicated relationship between The New York Times and three nonprofit news operations that provide local coverage for certain editions: Texas Tribune, The Bay Citizen and Chicago News Cooperative. While the partnerships have kickstarted the nonprofits’ operations and boosted their credibility, it’s tough to balance the Times’ need for content (they’re responsible for two pages, twice a week) with their own missions and editorial voices. The partners spend a lot more time on journalism for the Times than they get in licensing revenue, and they don’t get a cut of the money that the Times makes selling ads next to their stories. Times assistant national editor Jill Agostino sometimes has to fend off requests from within the Times for help on developing stories. Read more